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Gas Burner Flame

Servicewiz_3
Servicewiz_3 Member Posts: 56
I will be asked to look at a gas burner on a large( I think CB200) gas burner next week. The flame appears orange-ish. My first instict is to perform a combustion analysis on the burner to determine how far off my goal of 6% O2 it actually is.This way I would know if I should add or take away gas or air. Any help in this matter is greatly appreciated!!

Comments

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 23,169
    Your first instinct is correct. Indeed, I would venture to say that that is the only way to adjust it!

    If the flame is truly orangish, I would look for a dust source in the combustion air. Orange is from sodium, and sodium is in almost any dust you can think of. On the other hand, if it's yellow, then that suggests unburned carbon -- which suggests, but does not prove -- and air/fuel ratio or mixing problem.
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • ratio
    ratio Member Posts: 3,616
    Another source of orange flames (as oppose to yellow) is an ultrasonic humidifier, see for instance this thread.
    SuperTech
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 15,455
    I have seen orange gas flames that tested fine. Use the instruments and trust them. Also check Co
  • The Steam Whisperer
    The Steam Whisperer Member Posts: 1,215
    What Ed said. I was once called out to see if we could reduce the heating costs for a 5 story building heated with a 15 to 20 year old steam boiler. The burner flame had been adjusted to a nice blue flame. When I checked it the CO, it pegged the meter in a split second and the excess air was around 500%. Once I adjusted the excess air, the flame had some orange but was burning nice and clean. It even sounded better.
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  • Steamhead
    Steamhead Member Posts: 16,796

    What Ed said. I was once called out to see if we could reduce the heating costs for a 5 story building heated with a 15 to 20 year old steam boiler. The burner flame had been adjusted to a nice blue flame. When I checked it the CO, it pegged the meter in a split second and the excess air was around 500%. Once I adjusted the excess air, the flame had some orange but was burning nice and clean. It even sounded better.

    THIS!!
    All Steamed Up, Inc.
    Towson, MD, USA
    Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
    Oil & Gas Burner Service
    Consulting
    SuperTech
  • retiredguy
    retiredguy Member Posts: 898
    When I was still servicing power burners I found that every burner had it's own slightly different flame pattern and flame color. If you have worked on a particular burner brand, model and size, you could set up the combustion fairly close by eye and sound but to be exact and to make sure that you are correct you need a good combustion analyzer and know how to use it. Doing a good job on everything is an "art" and when you read the posts of the guys on this site and view their pictures you see that many of them are artists. my 2 cents
    mattmia2
  • SlamDunk
    SlamDunk Member Posts: 1,571
    edited May 2020
    I have three Powerflame C-Max burners that came off the assembly line sequentially (e.i. S/N1,2,3) in boilers that also came from the manufacturer sequentially. They are identical triplets. They look the same but have their own personalities. They are controlled with autoflame controllers that allow you to tune combustion using 20 points along the firing range. None of them have the same curve.

    Even if I loaded the curve from one boiler burning well, onto a thumb drive and installed it in the next boiler, the combustion analysis would be very different.
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 15,455
    @SlamDunk I was a Power Flame rep for 10 years. This was years ago long before the C-Max.

    But you right no two boilers or burner fire exactly the same even if they are identical. Different draft, too many variables that are slightly different
  • SlamDunk
    SlamDunk Member Posts: 1,571
    @EBEBRATT-Ed The C-Max was a bear with the linkage system and FGR. The servo controls tamed it nicely.